June 2013: The Heydays of Summer: A Year in Review Continues

Thanks Joy, for reminding me that I have yet to finish my own ‘Year in Review’ which I started here. Its so easy to find oneself lulled with the winter holidays, and then before you know it, we’re into February! June. July and August bring forth the most bloom in the garden, but they are also very busy months at Cedar Spring, so it was imperative that I find a work/garden/life balance this year, which I am happy to say seemed to work out well.

June was a spectacular year in my garden. Cool, damp conditions prevailed, and as a result, the ‘kids’ were often seen frolicking and playing like never before.

Speaking of rain…. seems as though my Astilboides tabularis took it upon himself to shelter one of his more delicate siblings, Dodecatheon media! It was also a wonderful year of unexpected photographic compositions!

June was a month of ‘sweet anticipation!’ I was beyond excited to see that my lone remaining Meconopsis x sheldonii ‘Lingholm’ which I had planted the summer before, looked like it was going to reward me! My bizarre Dracunculus vulgaris was also showing signs of impending bloom. and for the first time ever, I decided to forego the gloom and doom naysayers [‘Oh God! The stench! It smells like rotting meat!] and let it ‘do it’s thing!’ I was also looking forward to Paeonia x ‘Going Bananas’ – my first foray into the intersectional Itoh hybrids – and hopefully my first true yellow flowering species. [Nothing against you Miss Molly, but you’re looking more pink than yellow three years along!]

If you’re a fan of Lilium martagon, you likely know that sometimes it takes between three and five years to see a bloom. Case in point, but look what we have here! In past years I was a diligent parent in keeping the damned Japanese Lily Beetle away from it, but this year seems like the high moisture content did the work for me!

Cercis canadensis ‘Greswan’ [Burgundy Hearts] was indeed living up to it’s name! It is supposedly a hardier cousin to C.c. ‘Forest Pansy’ – it of which I’ve killed twice over. Fingers crossed! Oh, and speaking of my dearheart ‘Lingholm’…..

       Tulipa? Really? Part of a fall planting the previous year when I was creating the Memorial Ring beneath the branches of M.g ‘Goldrush.’ We’re never to old to learn new tricks, us old dogs!

I added a new piece of garden statuary as well – in the form of a young Buddhist novitiate who is actually in a lying position with his feet gleefully sticking up in the air. It would appear that he too is enamored of Corydalis flexuosa ‘Blue Panda’ – just like someone else I know!

If I were pressed to name the one ‘new’ plant of the past five years that I cannot live without in the garden, it would be this fabulously chartreuse statuesque beauty known as Aralia cordata ‘Sun King.’ Hands down, nothing comes close to its brilliant foliage and stunning wine coloured fruit. At last count I have four on my postage stamp sized property! Do you grow this plant? What is stopping you? [And for the love of sweet baby Jesus, do NOT say space! If I can do it, anyone can!]

The fair Prince Lingholm put forth his first bloom in the week that marks the anniversaries of the passing of both my Father and Grandmother. Coincidentally, both possessed startlingly blue eyes!

There was a reason behind my wanting to plant ‘Lingholm’ beneath ‘Goldrush’ – and the above three photos express my wish perfectly! 

Fagus sylvatica ‘Roseomarginata’ left me gasping at his beauty! I have always been enamored of the ‘tricolour’ Beech, and when I spotted a small specimen in a 3G container, I jumped at the opportunity.

Patience dear Prudence indeed! It is the only member of the ‘lily’ genera that I grow, and oh, it was so worth the wait!

   I know it looks like a bunch of green foliage, but trust me when I say that this [next to dearheart ‘Lingholm’] was the most eagerly anticipated wait of the entire growing season. Few people will be familiar with Anemonopsis macrophylla – with the exceptions of Larry and Marie – but believe you me when I say that it will knock the wind from your lungs and cause your legs to buckle beneath you when you witness it in bloom for the first time.

His beauty will have you ‘going bananas!’ – so perhaps the name is fitting! PLEASE….. do not say what you are thinking at this very moment. Peter! Are you listening to me? Indeed its common name, Voodoo Lily, seems more and more appropriate, as Dracunculus begins to expose his more ‘vulgaris’ side! [You know I had to slip that in, right?] And yes Peter…. one more. just for you!

I did expound on the beauty of Lilium martagon, did I not? Another one of those perfect compositional shots just waiting for an opportunity like this to present itself!

‘Oh vulgarity most foul, why for doth thou intrigue me so!’ What piques my curiosity most is the fact that most websites emphatically state that it smells like rotting meat and that it is not reliably hardy below Zone 7! Both in my estimation are gross phallicies….. oh, wait, did I spell that incorrectly! Brawwwhhhhh!

If you grow only one member of the beguiling Arisaema genus, make it this one – Arisaema candidissimum! Another ‘I Cannot Live Without’ selection is Deinanthe caerulea, whose exquisite buds and bloom are shown below! They should come with a warning label though…. as both are spellbindingly hypnotic, especially when one stares at the open bloom for too long….. I did warn you!

 And for the most part, this was June here at Teza’s Garden – without a doubt, the best gardening year I have ever witnessed!